ARTICLES ABOUT AIRTRAN AIRWAYS BY DATE - PAGE 3

Low-fare AirTran Airways is cutting back its already small presence in Miami. The Orlando-based carrier will stop flying its twice daily Miami-to-Atlanta route on Oct. 7. AirTran will still fly to Baltimore from Miami and will continue to operate more than a dozen daily flights from Fort Lauderdale. One extra round-trip flight from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta will be added for the month of October. "We utilize our planes more than every other airline," said spokesman Christopher White.

Talk about misreading the public mood. If Spirit Airlines pilots thought they would have the public on their side in their strike against the Miramar-based airline, they are badly mistaken. What you have seen the past few days since the strike began are angry, stranded passengers, many of whom returned to South Florida from cruises over the weekend and were faced with the prospect of having their flights home cancelled. The reality is simple.

document.write (" "); With days until a strike deadline, Spirit Airlines pilots picketed Fort Lauderdale's international airport Wednesday, carrying signs that called for a contract and threatened a walkout at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. More than 100 pilots, who work for more than a dozen carriers, including Spirit, marched to show support for Spirit pilots who have been without a contract for more than three years. The battle leaves Spirit passengers with weekend reservations at the mercy of collective bargaining negotiations.

Two decades ago, in a novel marketing ploy to promote travel to Seaworld of Texas, Southwest Airlines created " Shamu One," a Boeing 737 painted like Shamu the killer whale. That was in 1988. Since then, 13 more planes have received non-standard paint jobs, including the latest entry, Florida One. Emblazoned with an artist's rendering of the state flag, the aircraft took flight for the first time in late April, celebrating its six Florida destinations, including Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

First airlines cut back on in-flight food. Then they added fees to check your luggage. Now one airline is putting ads where passengers can't avoid seeing them: on the backs of the tray tables that must remain locked and upright during takeoff and landing. The new advertising plan, announced Wednesday by AirTran Airways, a low-cost, Florida-based airline, is the latest in a trend among recession-battered airlines to increase revenue by charging for extra products and services such as onboard wireless Internet, snacks, drinks and pillows.

Ready to fly and surf at the same time? AirTran Airways said Tuesday that it plans to be the first major airline to offer wireless, broadband Internet service to passengers on every flight. AirTran is hoping the service will enhance productivity for business travelers - who can access their companies' virtual private networks from 30,000 feet - and will entice leisure travelers who can check e-mail, shop online and surf the Web. "We'll have the entire fleet done by mid-summer," said Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for the Orlando-based airline.

AirTran Airways expects to be profitable in every quarter this year, despite the weak economy and how it has reduced revenue, Chief Executive Robert Fornaro said Monday. "I think that will be a rarity among carriers," Fornaro said at the Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference. The outlook assumes fuel prices remain level, according to slides AirTran filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fornaro said revenue is being hit more than expected, but he noted AirTran expects to have a strong April because of Easter.

Airlines are required to follow government consumer-protection rules or pay the price for breaking them. But passenger complaint records filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation indicate many airlines have, at least on occasion, been on the wrong side of federal consumer-protection laws. As a passenger, knowing your rights can help make flying more pleasant. Spirit Airlines, the largest carrier at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, made it onto the department's short list of airlines and travel companies whose business practices didn't fly past regulators.

Two events involving Muslims, in an airport concourse and a South Florida protest against bus signs, speak to lingering fear from a terrible day. The incident on AirTran Airways, in which nine Muslims were kicked off a New Year's Day flight from Washington to Florida after other passengers said they heard a suspicious remark, shows how fast healthy anti-terrorism watchfulness can unacceptably give way to unhealthy paranoia. From all accounts, the incident involved a group of Muslim passengers talking about the safest place to sit on the airplane.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport ranked high in the nation for its affordability and drop in airfares in early 2008, the government reported Wednesday. Average fares fell 7.7 percent from $258 to $238 in the first quarter, compared with a year ago, while they rose at most other airports, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation report. The decline was the third-largest at any airport, and it helped to earn the Fort Lauderdale airport its spot as the fourth cheapest destination in the country after Atlantic City, N.J., Dallas' Love Field and Burbank, Calif.